Surgical apparatus for suturing organs with metal staples

Abstract

A surgical apparatus for suturing organs with metal staples comprises two clamps, each of said clamps having two jaws for clamping and fixing the organs being sutured and detachably joined together so that the mating plane of the jaws of each clamp is perpendicular to the mating plane of the clamps. Mounted on the clamp jaws are magazines with slots for staples, staple pushers, dies with grooves for clinching said staples and suitable for grasping and fixing the walls of the organs being sutured, embodied as casings with members fixing the walls of the organs. The casings are set on each of the jaws in guides permitting restricted movement of said casings in a plane perpendicular to the mating plane of the jaws and the mating plane of the clamps. Locks are mounted on said jaws locking the casings in the forward position, and said locking members lie between the mating surface of said clamp jaws and at some distance in front of the mating surfaces of said clamps, and locks locking the casings in the backward position, lie at some distance from the mating surfaces of the clamp jaws and approximately in the mating planes of the clamps and retain said casings regardless of the reciprocal positions of the clamps and the width of the suturing clearance between the magazines and the dies.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A surgical apparatus for suturing organs, such as intestines, stomach, vessels and the like, with metal staples in the end-to-end, end-to-side and side-to-side methods, with the working part of the apparatus disposed outside of the organs being sutured, comprising: two clamps; two jaws of each of said clamps for fixing one of the organs being sutured therebetween, said clamps being detachably joined together so that when joined the mating plane of said jaws of each of said clamps is perpendicular to the mating plane of said clamps; two magazines with slots for staples, each of said magazines being mounted on one of said jaws of each of said clamps; pushers for pushing out said staples from said magazine slots; two dies with grooves for clinching said staples, each of said dies disposed on one of said clamp jaws so that said magazines and dies interacting with each other during suturing are situated on the jaws of different clamps; means for grasping and fixing the walls of the organs being sutured; four casings of said means, fastened on said jaws, one of said casings being fastened to each of said jaws; members for grasping and fixing the walls of said organ or organs, situated on said casings and directed along said jaws; guides made within said jaws, ensuring the fastening therein of said casings with the provision for limited movement of each of said casings in a plane, perpendicular to the mating plane of said jaws and the mating plane of said clamps, so that each of said casings may be set to either one of two extreme positions of which the forward extreme position corresponds to the moment of clamping and grasping the walls of the organs being sutured, whereby said fixing members lie between the mating surfaces of said jaws of said clamps and at some distance in front of the mating surfaces of said clamps in their separate state, and in the backward extreme position in which said fixing members lie at some distance from the mating surfaces of said clamp jaws and approximately within the mating surfaces of said clamps; locks locking said casings in said forward position, mounted on said jaws; and locks locking said casings in said backward position, mounted on said jaws and retaining said jaws regardless of the reciprocal position of said jaws and the suturing clearance width between said magazines and said dies. 
     
     
       2. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 1, with said guides of said movable casings comprising closed slots, provided in said clamp jaws, having inclined portions in which are displaced cylindrical pins secured to said casings; and said locks of said movable casings, locking said casings in the rear position, comprising spring-loaded plates secured in a cantilever fashion to said clamp jaws and engaging with their free ends shoulders provided on said movable casings. 
     
     
       3. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which said free ends of said spring-loaded plates are inclined to the mating plane of the clamp jaws, said shoulders being formed by the wall of open slots made in said casings, and which has common strips, serving to secure therein said locks locking said casings in the forward and backward positions, movably set along each said clamp jaw and occupying one of two extreme positions, in one of which the casings are locked in the forward position, and in the other the casings are locked in the backward position, and the length of the working portion of each of said spring-loaded plates interacting with said open slots is shorter than the run of said common strips. 
     
     
       4. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 3, comprising a means for changing the distance between the mating surfaces of said clamps, and linking the jaws of one of said clamps, with those of the other clamp. 
     
     
       5. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 2, comprising a means for changing the distance between the mating surfaces of said clamps, and linking the jaws of one of said clamps with those of the other clamp. 
     
     
       6. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 3, comprising means for changing the distance between mating planes or surfaces of said clamps, linking the jaws of one of said clamps with those of the other clamp. 
     
     
       7. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 4, comprising a detachable joint, connecting the ends of said clamps; a rotating cam of said means for changing the distance between the mating surfaces of the clamps, secured on one of said joints, the working surface of said cam having the configuration of a portion of a diverging spiral with an angle of helix not greater than the angle of selfbreaking; and a pin fastened on the other said clamp and interacting with said rotatable cam. 
     
     
       8. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 6, comprising a detachable joint, connecting the ends of said clamps; a rotatable cam of said means for changing the distance between the mating surfaces of said clamps, fastened on one of said joints, the working surface of said cam having the configuration of a portion of a diverging spiral with an angle of helix not greater than the angle of self-breaking; and a pin fastened on the other said clamp and interacting with said rotatable cam. 
     
     
       9. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which said rotatable cam is fastened approximately in the medium part of the clamp between said detachable joint and said means for grasping and fixing the walls of the organs being sutured, and is secured on the ends of the clamp opposite to the joint. 
     
     
       10. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 8, in which said rotatable cam is secured approximately in the medium part of the clamp between said detachable joint, and said means for grasping and fixing the walls of the organs being sutured, and is fastened on the ends of the clamp opposite to the joint. 
     
     
       11. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising a device for burying a first tier of sutures connecting the organs when placing a second tier of sutures, made as a fork, intended for encompassing the sutured organs along the fist tier of sutures and for disposing it at the moment of placing the second tier of sutures, together with the sutured organs encompassed therewith, between said clamp jaws so that the longitudinal axis thereof is approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of said surgical apparatus, and said fork having jaws, whose length corresponds to the length of said magazines and said dies. 
     
     
       12. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 10, comprising a device for burying a first tier of sutures, connecting the organs when placing a second tier of sutures, made as a fork, intended for encompassing the sutured organs along the first tier of sutures and for disposing it at the moment of placing the second tier of sutures, together with the sutured organs encompassed therewith, between said clamp jaws so that its longitudinal axis is approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of said surgical apparatus, and said fork having jaws, whose length corresponds to the length of said magazine and said die. 
     
     
       13. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which said fork jaws have a round or circular cross-section. 
     
     
       14. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which said fork jaws are U-shaped in cross-section and whose channels face each other. 
     
     
       15. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which said fork jaws are resilient and have a detachable locking member, preventing the divergence of their tips at the moment of burying the first tier of sutures and placing the second tier of sutures. 
     
     
       16. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 15, in which recesses are made on the tips of said jaws of said fork for securing said locking member. 
     
     
       17. A surgical apparatus as claimed in claim 15, in which said locking member is made in the form of a frame with a rectangular window.